Eriogonum shockleyi |
Eriogonum thymoides |
|
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Shockley's buckwheat, Shockley's wild buckwheat |
thyme buckwheat, thyme wild buckwheat, thyme-leaf buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat |
|
Habit | Herbs, matted, scapose, 0.3–0.5(–0.7) × (0.5–)1–4(–20) dm, floccose to tomentose, greenish or grayish. | Subshrubs, spreading, polygamodioecious, 0.5–2(–3) × 1–3(–4) dm, tomentose to sericeous. |
Stems | matted, sometimes only seemingly so, with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/5 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems absent or scapelike, erect or nearly so, slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.05–)0.1–0.3 dm, floccose to tomentose. |
caudex spreading; aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, arising at nodes of caudex branches and at distal nodes of short, nonflowering aerial branches, (0.1–)0.3–0.8(–1.2) dm, tomentose to sericeous, with a whorl of 6–10(–12), leaflike bracts ca. midlength, these similar to leaf blades, 0.3–0.8(–1) × 0.1–0.2 cm. |
Leaves | basal, fasciculate in terminal tufts; petiole 0.2–0.5 cm, tomentose to floccose; blade oblanceolate to elliptic or spatulate, (0.2–)0.3–0.8(–1.2) × 0.2–0.4(–0.6) cm, tomentose to floccose, margins plane or slightly thickened. |
in compact basal rosettes, fasciculate, and sheathing up stems; petiole 0.05–0.2 cm; blade linear to narrowly spatulate, (0.2–)0.3–1(–1.5) × 0.1–0.2(–0.3) cm, densely white-tomentose abaxially, silky-villous or sericeous adaxially, margins entire, inrolled to tightly revolute. |
Inflorescences | capitate, 0.8–2 cm; branches absent; bracts 3–5, scalelike, linear to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–4 × 0.6–1 mm. |
capitate, 0.8–2 cm wide; branches absent; bracts absent immediately below involucre. |
Peduncles | absent. |
|
Involucres | 2–4(–6) per cluster, campanulate, (2–)2.5–5(–6) × 3–6(–7) mm, rigid, tomentose; teeth 5–10, erect to spreading, (0.5–)1–3 mm. |
1 per node, turbinate, 3–5 × 2.5–4 mm, villous to sericeous; teeth 6–8, erect, 0.5–1 mm. |
Flowers | 2.5–4 mm; perianth white to rose or yellow, densely pilose; tepals connate proximally, monomorphic, oblong to obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5–5 mm; filaments subglabrous or sparsely pilose proximally. |
4–10 mm, including 0.5–1 mm stipelike base; perianth white to pale yellow or yellow, becoming pink to rose, villous abaxially; tepals monomorphic, obovate; stamens included to slightly exserted, 2–4 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
Achenes | light brown to brown, 2.5–3 mm, tomentose. |
light brown, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous except for densely pubescent beak. |
Eriogonum shockleyi |
Eriogonum thymoides |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Gravelly or clayey (rarely sandy) flats, washes, and slopes, saltbush, blackbrush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands | Sandy to gravelly, often volcanic flats, slopes, and outcrops, mixed grassland and sagebrush communities, montane conifer woodlands |
Elevation | (800-)1200-2600 m ((2600-)3900-8500 ft) | (200-)600-1700 m ((700-)2000-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; UT
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ID; OR; WA
|
Discussion | Eriogonum shockleyi is widely distributed in northern Arizona, east-central California, western Colorado, southern Idaho, northwestern New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. On the Colorado Plateau, it has oblanceolate to spatulate leaf blades usually 0.3–1.2 × 0.3–0.6 cm, scapes 1–3 cm, involucres with long (2–3.5 mm) often spreading teeth, and flowers 3–4 mm. These plants have been distinguished as var. longilobum. The typical Great Basin expression has elliptic leaf blades 0.3–0.6 × 0.3–0.5 cm, scapes 0.5–2 cm, involucres with short (0.5–2 mm) erect teeth, and flowers 2.5–4 mm. Low, compact, hummock-like plants in southwestern Idaho with elliptic leaf blades 0.1–0.3(–0.35) × 0.1–0.15 cm, flowering stems absent or up to 0.5 cm, and involucres 2.5–3 mm with teeth 0.8–1 mm have been termed var. packardiae. These morphologic differences have been shown to be genetically insignificant, however (J. F. Smith and T. A. Bateman 2002). Plants on moving sand dunes at the southeast end of Baking Power Flat in Lincoln County, Nevada, can be up to 2 m across. Further studies may indicate that the various geographic expressions deserve taxonomic recognition. The Great Basin expression is the food plant of the Bernardino dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes bernardino). Members of the species are occasionally found in cultivation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum thymoides is an exquisite species concentrated in three regions of the Pacific Northwest. The first is along the eastern edge of the Cascade Range from near Wenatchee, Washington (Adams, Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, and Yakima counties), to near the Dalles in extreme north-central Oregon (Union County). The second is from Baker and northern Malheur counties, Oregon, to Adams, Canyon, and Washington counties, Idaho. A third series of populations is in the Mount Bennett Hills area of Gooding County, Idaho, and just over the borders in Blaine, Camas, Elmore, and Lincoln counties. Staminate plants tend to have yellow flowers that quickly fade after pollen release. Pistillate plants tend to have white to pale yellow flowers that persist and greatly elongate as the achene matures. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 286. | FNA vol. 5, p. 360. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. pulvinatum, E. shockleyi subsp. candidum, E. shockleyi subsp. longilobum, E. shockleyi var. longilobum, E. shockleyi var. packardiae, E. villiflorum var. candidum | E. sphaerocephalum subsp. minimum, E. thymoides subsp. congestum |
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 18: 194. (1883) | Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 9. (1856) |
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